Peple still don't understand about mirrors as they have always been an enigma for them.
A rather very interesting and thought provoking research was conducted by the psychologists at the University of Liverpool. The research was mainly based on the people’s difficulty in understanding how the mirror reflects images.
The research was headed by Dr Marco Bertamini working at the University's School of Psychology. He designed various experiments by hanging a covered mirror in the wall and asking his subjects to guess the exact place from which they would be able to see themselves.In the end most of the people said that they would be able to see their reflection before they were near the edge of the mirror.
Hence It was concluded that many are not aware of how the mirror exactly functions. It is not the position of the viewer that determines the reflection of the mirror.
This could be understood with the example of the famous paintings of the goddess Venus, looking in a small mirror. If you look at these paintings it would look as if goddess Venus is admiring herself because the reflection of her face is seen in the mirror.
On the other hand from her point of view, she will be able to see you in the mirror. This is called the VENUS EFFECT. Apart from this subjects were requested to approximate the size of their head in the reflection as it is seen on the surface of the mirror. Many said that it will be similar to hat of their physical head.
This is due to the fact that they considered the image seen inside and not on the surface of the mirror. But actually the image on the surface is half the size of the person because the mirror is placed half the distance between the person and the image that is seen on the mirror.
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